Human resources specialist Mercer will close one of its two offices in Houston, Texas. The move represents a rationalisation of its location strategy in the US, and will see its 71 staff either redeployed or let go. The office windup will be completed by July 29.

Mercer Human Resource Consulting, Mercer, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan, established by the firm in 1937.While initially an employee benefits department of Marsh & McLennan, it took on the name “William M. Mercer” in 1959, following the acquisition of firm William M. Mercer.Today, the subsidiary has 21,000 employees globally, operating in more than 180 countries. In the US, the firm has 63 offices across 37 states.

The firm recently disclosed that one of its two offices in Houston, Texas, is to close. Its second office in downtown Houston will remain open. The affected office, located at 10900 Corporate Centre Drive, will be closed from July 29. The 71 people positioned at the office, including staff and temporary agency workers, will be repositioned – where possible – according to the firm. Job cuts are set to start from June 30, and are not based on a bumping rights system, meaning workers with more seniority cannot take precedence for positions from those with less seniority.

“Many of the impacted employees will be retained by Mercer in other roles and locations,” reads a statement. “Clients serviced out of the Houston location will now be serviced by teams based in other Mercer offices. Mercer anticipates the full transition to be completed by the end of July 2016.”

The office shutdown follows an internal review of its US location strategy. The firm’s other office in the city, which employs 86 people, will continue to operate as is. The services provided by the office to be close, will be spread throughout its wider services offering in the US, with the firm’s three Texas based offices, likely to take on some of the slack.